Learning To Live
by dorkforlife
Summary: She was alone and ignored. He was admired by all. What do they have in common? They need someone to love who will also give them love in return. HPOC
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer- I do not own anything related to the Harry Potter series.

**Chapter 1- Things Must Get Worse Before They Get Better**

I am merely another person overshadowed by the people who surround me. People who once cared about me are too immersed with their own lives to care anymore. People who don't know me could care less about me, for there is nothing very special about me. My appearance may be different with my messy black curls and unusual muggle clothing, but after the first glance most people choose not to pursue a friendship or relationship with me.

That is how I ended up alone in the Ravenclaw common room at four in the morning. I was staring out of the window, watching the first rays of the rising sun light the ground on fire. I saw Seamus Finnigan, the only one who truly cared about me, enough to date me. Whether out of pity or true romantic interest, I'm not sure, but it didn't matter, we had a pleasant relationship and he could make me happy when no one else would even try, so maybe I shouldn't complain, some people are treated like lepers because they have minorly erred, I am just invisible.

I reverted my gaze back to the window, where to my astonishment, an additional figure had join him. I couldn't see clearly, but I could make out a curvy, feminine sort of figure. I squinted, and abruptly realized that the figure was none other than Evanthe, my rather attractive fraternal twin, someone not very close to being invisible like me. I swallowed, hoping that she wouldn't try to use her feminine wiles on him. To no avail, I saw the two hug and lock lips.

How could he do this? The one person I thought cared about me. Now I was all alone and unloved. My depression soon turned to anger as I understood, that I should not blame myself, but blame Seamus for breaking my heart. This was solely his fault, along with Evanthe.

I heard footsteps and turned around. Padma Patil, another Ravenclaw in her seventh year, as I was, descended the stairs.

"Hey Erimentha, what are you doing?" she asked.

Wonderful, the last thing I needed was for the reigning gossip queen of Ravenclaw to know about my horrible predicament. I decided to act natural, hoping that she wouldn't notice.

Too late, "What were you looking at when I came down?"

"Nothing," I replied coolly.

"Right," she said sarcastically, "Now spill."

When I wouldn't talk she walked over to the window to find out herself. "Why are you watching to people snogging? Wait what are they doing up so early? Holy shit is that Seamus and your sister?"

She was too curious for her own good, "No it's Terry and Evanthe." I replied. Terry Boot was her longtime crush, as many people, including Boot, knew. I was hoping she would get mad, and charge down there and break up the gruesome sight.

"Ha, no that is Seamus, the guy down there doesn't have black hair like Terry!" she replied as she was carefully scrutinizing the image in front of her. "What a bastard!" she exclaimed, "That tart isn't any better."

I ignored her, because I knew her game. I've seen her do it to many people. She was trying to get me angry or act sympathetic to get juicy facts out of me while I ws vulnerable. Being near invisible does have its advantage. Unfortunately, people like Padma could notice me.

I decided to get some more sleep before I did anything too rash, but all my efforts would be in vain, for I had little patience, and a temper to match that of Mount St. Helens.

This is my first fic after reading them for about half a year. I hope you like it; let me know what you think, any advice would be greatly appreciated. I know it's a little short, but I didn't want to much to happen in the first chapter. You'll learn more about Erimentha in the later chapters, but hopefully you got a good idea of what she's like.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer- I do not own anything related to the Harry Potter series.

**Chapter 2- It's All For The Best**

I woke up refreshed and my mind was at ease. I stared at my clock to check the time, and I briefly glanced at the picture next to it. It was one of Seamus who was smiling happily back at me. That was when all the past events of the day came flooding back. The betrayal, and of course that regrettable encounter with Padma. I was feeling really down, if the gossip network was up to it's usual standards, the whole school would have probably known by now. Luckily, it would be hard for them to connect Evanthe's sister to me. Most of them have probably never seen me, another benefit of being unnoticeable.

I made my way down to the Great Hall for breakfast, regretting every step. I took a deep breath, trying not to let my anger get the best of me, but too late. As soon as I came in whom did I have the fortune see? Evanthe, not just by her self, but she was talking to Seamus. When she saw me, she smirked, and left. Seamus turned to me and waved, his face was slowly turning red. As I walked over to give him a piece of my mind, people were shooting me looks of pity.

"Hi," he said rather nervously as I stood next to him.

Ignoring his salutation, I immediately said, "Where were you at four this morning?"

That didn't seem to surprise him, he must have been going through this possible incident in his head, "Sleeping," he answered unconvincingly.

"Sleeping my arse," I said, "I saw you!"

"Saw me sleeping?" he asked innocently.

"Guess again," I said coldly.

"Out on the grounds?"

I slowly nodded my head.

"Listen the rumors aren't true, I wasn't doing anything wrong."

"Usually rumors have some accurate basis to them." I shot back.

"Not in this case."

"So are you suggesting I'm blind, Seamus? Let me guess, everything I saw was just a hallucination."

"No, I'm just suggesting that you're overreacting." Seamus replied dimly. Even his friend seated next to him, the famous do-gooder Harry Potter, snorted at that weak retort.

"Overreacting? You were cheating on me, not with just any one, but my own sister, and you say I'm overreacting?" I yelled rather loudly.

Seamus looked mad, "It was just a kiss!"

"Just a kiss?" I repeated incredulously.

"That's right, it meant nothing." He said.

"Well it means something to me, it means our relationship is over." Okay, maybe now I was overreacting just a tiny bit, but my trust doesn't come easily, and he just stopped earning it.

"What, you're lying!" he exclaimed. How could he not expect that after what he did?

"No I was just kidding, I'm going to worship you for snogging my sister." I said sarcastically.

"Would you?" he asked, hopefully. What did I ever see in that mindless womanizer?

"No, you idiot, I just said it was over."

"Yes, but you're still angry, let's wait until you calm down enough to think rationally, and then we can discuss the future of our relationship." He replied, trying to placate me.

"I am thinking rationally! See Seamus, this is how relationships work, if the boy remains faithful to the girl, everything is fine, but IF he decides to betray the girl, especially with someone of her kin, the girl will break up with the offending traitor." I was seething at this point.

"Calm down! It's not like I impregnated another girl!" My eyes were bulging out in shock at this point.

"I didn't," Seamus said defending his honor.

"Well good for you, nevertheless, you still cheated, and I can't ignore that."

"But…"

I interrupted, "It's over, Seamus this conversation has gone on long enough, but you can't stop it."

"Please give me another chance, your sister was trying to seduce me."

"It worked didn't it, if you had any respect for our relationship, she wouldn't have been able to."

Seamus stared after me as I walked away. I was expecting him to let me break up with him without any trouble, but our encounter was quite the opposite. Then again, he was probably trying not to make him seem unworthy of any girl's affection in the future. In the end the break up was all for the best, for the both of us.

I'm sorry, yes another short chapter, but next chapter has flashbacks, and I will try to make it a lot longer! I hope that will make up for the shorter ones. Oh yeah, thank you Freya Racinna and JoeDaSpartan06 for your lovely reviews! It's nice to see that people like my story.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer- I do not own anything related to the Harry Potter series.

**Chapter 3- Facing The Past**

Still seething with anger, I took my seat in my History of Magic class. Professor Binns, the dull ghost who hadn't even let death bar him from teaching, stood up to give his lecture for the day. As he droned on, I drifted off into my own world. I started to think of some of the times Evanthe had gotten what I had wanted.

Flashback

I was five, yet unloved. Five is a crucial age where parents should nurture their children, but I was neglected. I was the weed, while Evanthe was the rose. All my parent's love went directly to Evanthe, the beautiful one. I didn't understand their reasoning behind this for quite a while. Luckily, I did gain one thing from their lack of attention, independence at an early age that many children are usually denied of.

My only friend was Ms. Rainier, my elderly, widowed neighbor. My parents would send me over to her house to help out and get me out of their sight for a few hours, while Evanthe would be able to go to Diagon Alley with Mum. Mum would always buy Evanthe the extravagant, expensive jewelry and beautiful designer dress robes, while I would get the plain clothing, but not because money was not a problem for my family. It was quite the opposite.

Our ancestry is an old line full of only the finest purebloods. Surrounded by beautiful witches, and successful wizards, I was the family disgrace. I contained neither beauty nor the genius characteristic to our family, and therefore, I was shunned. My family planted the idea in my brain that I would never amount to anything. This was greatly depressing for a child of only five.

In a world full of arrogant wizards, Ms. Rainier was my only confidante. She had a kind heart, and would listen to my troubles. In return I would help her with small tasks. This time, I was cleaning out her attic. As I was removing books from some boxes, I noticed a brightly colored alphabet book. This sparked my curiosity.

I went to Ms. Rainier, and asked her if she would teach me how to read.

"I'm a little busy, Erimentha dear, but you can try yourself, and if you have any questions, I would be more than happy to help." She said.

This is how my education started. Soon I was effortlessly reading easy level books. However, Evanthe noticed my sudden literacy.

"What are you doing?" she asked me one day.

"Reading," I replied distracted by my book.

Evanthe pouted, "When did you learn how to read?"

"When Ms. Rainier taught me, " sadly that last remark was about to cost me.

Evanthe threw one of her fits, stating that it wasn't fair that I could read while she couldn't. My mother, who couldn't bear to see her precious daughter overshadowed by the outcast, immediately got Evanthe an English tutor. My mother forbid me from going to Ms. Rainier's house ever again.

I was going to try to go, anyways, but Ms. Rainier's untimely death three days after my mother's new rule stopped me from going. It was then that I stopped trusting people so easily. I was angry with Ms. Rainier for leaving me when I needed her.

End of Flashback

A loud snore emitted from Ronald Weasley, who was unfortunately sitting directly in front of me, jolted me out of my thoughts. I shook my head, at Professor Binns' oblivion.

A snore with the intensity of the previous one would be sure to get the attention of a teacher, but everyting would pass by Binns. I tried to focus on his speech on the giant wars. However, I found myself drifting off into dreamland once again.

Flashback

I was now ten, and I had learned to channel my frustrations into a wonderful thing called music. On my daily strolls, I happened to wander by a music store. At this time I happened to be particularly angry, as Evanthe had gotten her way once again, this time with that boy next door I had a small crush on. I felt like punching something.

I glanced inside the music store, and the first thing I laid eyes on was a glorious drum set. It was miraculous that I happened to see it at that particular moment, or I would have never gathered enough courage to walk inside the store and buy the drum set. However, I must have done something right, for I was able to go in and buy the drums.

For the next few weeks, I would not respond negatively to any of Evanthe's attempts to provoke me. When I felt angry, I would go into my room and drum. My parents never had any idea that I had hidden a drum set in my room. My house was large enough that no one could hear me from my wing. My family also avoided my wing as often as they could, so my seclusion proved to be an immense advantage.

As always, my period of bliss did not last for long. Evanthe wandered into my wing to find a new way to vex me. This was a very inconvenient time, as I was playing my drums at that time. Evanthe went off to complain, and ended up getting rewarded with voice lessons, while I was forbid to play the drums. I still continued to practice in secret.

Evanthe was a horrible singer, and it wasn't just sibling rivalry that biased my judgment, it was a fact. However, doting parents can be oblivious to their child's flaws. So, with my parent's encouragement, Evanthe continued to sing everywhere, at dinner, in the shower, in shops.

One day, Father invited the Weird Sisters' agent over for dinner. I was very excited, but all my father could talk of was my sister's "talent."

It was either "Evanthe is such a marvelous singer," or, "She has been getting the attention of many record labels," which of course, was a completely fabricated.

Finally the agent succumbed, "Really, can I hear her sing?"

So Evanthe started singing one of her favorite songs, but before she could finish, the agent started laughing. I, of course, was laughing along with him.

"That was a good joke,Vincent." The agent said smiling.

My father feigned a smile, but his eyes stated otherwise. He seemed to be furious that the agent had insulted his favorite daughter. My father had punished me. He justified his reprimand by saying that if I had never started the drums, Evanthe would have never suffered this huge blow to her self-esteem. I however did not care. For once, Evanthe did not win.

End of Flashback

I smiled at this thought goofily, as the bell rang. I quickly made my way out of the classroom, happy that I was in a good mood, but it wasn't going to last for long, For I saw a very disturbing sight outside.

* * *

I almost didn't update today, but I decided it's been to long since the last time I have updated. I'm going to try to update again Monday as a Memorial Day gift, but don't get your hopes up too high, because I don't have the next chapter planned out yet, but it is going to contain Erimentha confronting Evanthe.

Thanks to **Barbossa'sApples** and **Warrior of Tortall** for reviewing.

**Freya Racinna**- Great to hear you like my story so much. The character's name is Erimentha, which means collector of thoughts and determined protector if you wanted to know. Evanthe means flower, a little ironic since I didn't notice this until after I compared her to a rose.

**Absh**- Yes boy's can be complete idiot's, but without them the world wouldn't be so interesting.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer- I do not own anything related to the Harry Potter series.

**Chapter 4- Evanthe**

I quickly made my way out of the classroom, happy that I was in a good mood, but it wasn't going to last for long, for I saw a very disturbing sight outside.

* * *

The disturbing sight was none other than Evanthe, with a Hufflepuff who I didn't recognize. She was obviously trying to charm her way in to yet another male's bed. It was astonishing, she broke up my first meaningful relationship with a simple snog less than four hours ago, and she already moved on to her next victim.

Evanthe turned around and smirked at my shocked countenance.

"Hello dear sister," she said in a venomous voice.

Her prey decided to leave rather than witness our exchange.

"Damn, I almost had him," my sister not sounding remotely sounding disappointed, "Oh well I can find someone else for tonight."

"I don't want to hear the details of your _love_ life," I said, trying not to sound bitter but I failed dreadfully.

"Pity, you could have used my advice. So, if not here for my advice, I assume you're here to discuss a recent rendezvous of mine." Evanthe said smugly.

"Wow this is a first, you're correct!"

"Now, now no need to be jealous, I'd prefer if you got to the point."

"Why must you take everything positive in my life and turn it into a negative?" I asked pitifully.

She chuckled in a low voice that sounded rather villainous, "If you considered Seamus a positive person in your life, you're pathetic. He wasn't even a decent snog."

I could feel my cheeks heat up in anger, "It's not about Seamus anymore, in fact you made me see he's not the person I thought he was. I'd rather not have someone who is going to dump me as soon as a pretty face comes along. I'm talking about everything else!"

"What of yours have I taken?" she asked innocently as a few people wandered into the corridor we were in. They stopped and stared as they realized we were arguing.

"The question is not what of mine have you taken, but rather what of mine have you not taken."

"Good point, I suppose I am good enough to take everything you have had." She gloated, "However, none of your possessions have ever matched up to mine. Your just too low to possess anything of worth to me."

That really got me mad, "Then why the hell do you take everything?"

"Because I can and besides, it's fun to ruin your life."

That pushed me too far, without thinking, my hand reached into my pocket for my wand and as I lifted it, someone grabbed my hand. I turned around, even more enraged than before, as this person denied me of the perfect opportunity to attack Evanthe.

It was Harry Potter.

"Don't be rash, she's not worth it," he said. _He_ out of all people was telling me not to act too rash? After all the things he had done, I don't think he was the appropriate person to tell me that. Why did he even care, it wasn't any of his business?

"I'm more than worth it," came Evanthe's retort. That turned my attention back to her. I suddenly felt another wave of anger pass through me as I remembered all the evil things she had ever done to me. Before Potter could react, I pounced on her, swiftly drew my fist back, and punched her the way I had seen other students do so in their fights. Evanthe clawed at me, but before she could do any real damage, someone separated both of us.

I gulped, as I observed that the person who stopped the fight was Professor Snape, the head of Evanthe's house. He had a penchant to favor the Slytherins over the other houses.

"Miss Ridgewood," he realized that the term could have applied to both of us, "Evanthe, please go to the hospital wing. Erimentha, follow me to the headmasters office." Snape said menacingly.

My heart literally froze at that point. "T-The headmaster's office?"

"You think that fighting in this school will go unpunished, Miss Ridgewood?"

I was silent until we reached a door with gargoyles. Snape said "Sugar quills" and the door swung open.

I looked around; the headmaster's office was full of unusual trinkets, and a phoenix. I was transfixed with the beauty of the rare bird, until Professor Dumbledore's smooth voice interrupted me.

"Ah, Miss Ridgewood, you are one of the last people I expected to see in my office."

I was quite astonished that the headmaster knew my name.

"Miss Ridgewood was found fighting a moment ago." Snape said.

"Fighting? With who?" Professor Dumbledore turned his penetrating gaze on me; it felt as if he was reading my mind. It was quite uncomfortable.

"With one of my top students, the other Miss Ridgewood."

Top student for what, her ability to get laid every day?

I heard Dumbledore chuckle, and I probably was being paranoid, but I tried to push him out of mind. I suddenly felt at ease, as if he wasn't looking at the contents of my mind. That was odd, maybe Dumbledore really did know Legilimency.

"Who made the first move?" Dumbledore asked.

"Miss Ridgewood, er, Erimentha seemed to throw the first punch."

"I was provoked!" I interjected.

Dumbledore considered this, "Both Evanthe and you will receive a weeks detention."

That was a lighter punishment than I expected.

"Albus, my student has a broken nose due to Erimentha's misconduct!" Snape said enraged.

"It is as much Evanthe's fault for starting the fight as it was Erimentha's." Professor Dumbledore said calmly.

Snape stormed out and I was about to leave to when Professor Dumbledore said, "You seem to have quite an aptitude with Occlumency, Erimentha."

I stared at him blankly, me skilled at Occlumency? I was barely skilled at anything, how could I have a gift with Occlumency?

"Me?" I asked meekly, "I am not that great with magic, how could I know Occlumency?"

"It shows that you have great resistance."

I pondered his words, as I left his office. It probably was luck that allowed me to drive Professor Dumbledore out of my mind, if I tried, I doubt I could do that again.

* * *

I tried to get this in on memorial day, but I couldn't log on! I even had the chapter typed up and everything, oh well, it's not my fault.

**Absh- **Things will get better in some aspects, but her family probably won't be one of the things that improve in her life.

**Warrior of Tortall**- Thank you, it's nice to know that people appreciate my story.

**Freya Racinna**- Aw, you're welcome. You don't have to wait any longer, well for this chapter at least.

**Barbossa'sApples**- Her life will improve when she meets a certain trio. 

**AmberButterfly- **I'm not planning to make Erimentha kick Seamus' arse, but atleast she was able to kick Evanthe's arse in this chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer- I do not own anything related to the Harry Potter series.

**Chapter 5**- **Changes Are Not All Bad**

After that odd incident in Dumbledore's office, I decided to go to the one place any trueRavenclaw could find solace, the library. When I got to Hogwarts, the library's extensive collection surprised me, nonetheless, I was in heaven. Since then, I visited the library quite regularly, and once again the library was where I ended up.

I went to my regular table that was always secluded, to find that it was not. Sitting there were the famous Harry Potter, his rather rude best friend Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger, who had a startlingly high IQ. However, I barely noticed this fact, for my nose was buried in an enthralling tale of a vampire. I would have ended up sitting on Hermione Granger had I not noticed at the last moment that the seat was occupied.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I usually sit in this chair and it's become routine, I guess. Well uh, I'll just leave then." I said awkwardly. It wasn't everyday that I came close to sitting in a genius's lap.

"No, It's alright, I'm sorry that we took your table, Erimentha. Why don't you sit with us instead?" Hermione Granger said smiling.

I was so shocked that Hermione Granger knew my name that I made a face, which Hermione must have taken as my rejection of her invitation.

"Oh, well you don't have to..." she said.

"Oh, no! I would love to! I'm sorry, I just..." I trailed off, not knowing what to say, so instead I plopped down into the chair.

Looking across the table I saw the amused faces of Ronald Weasley and Harry Potter. It seemed as if I was seeing a lot of Harry today.

"What are you reading?" he asked politely.

"Oh, some silly story about a vampire." I said, trying not to say anything embarrassing, I was not going to give them a bad first impression, or perhaps I already did with my fight.

Ron, however, was staring at me. It was rather unnerving. He saw me looking at him and smiled. "You know, you have a great right hook, and that look on Snape's face was priceless!" he said laughing. I blushed in reply and decided to look down at my book until that particular part of my life was conveniently wiped from their minds.

Hermione glared at Ron, "Ron! I'm sure Erimentha doesn't want to hear about that now, when she' s obviously trying to relax, right Erimentha?" Hermione was my savior, she asked me sit down, and now she was helping me evade uncomfortable questions, this was really too much for me to process.

"Uh, sure" was my smooth reply.

I returned to my reading as Hermione and Ron were bickering.

"Don't worry they do this often," Harry said seeing me look up at them.

I smiled in return.

"You're too quiet." Harry remarked looking at me oddly.

"How long did it take you to figure that out?" I asked sarcastically, and then stared at him in horror. First the fight, now this, could anything get worse? Then, I realized Harry was laughing and I smiled in relief.

Suddenly, Hermione was staring at me quite oddly. I simply smiled at her and tried to return to my reading but she interrupted, "Have you started any of your homework yet?"

"No, I was going to do it later."

"What! It's 6 in the evening, Erimentha! You'll never get it done! Do it now!"

"Um, sure," I replied slowly, waiting to see if she was joking. Her look didn't change, so I decided to take out my book and parchment to please her and stop further chastising.

Harry and Ron were laughing.

Hermione scowled at them. "This is our last year at Hogwarts. Our academic work is crucial to sucess in our future career. It's exactly that type of attitude that will stop you two from becoming Aurors!"

Harry and Ron shot each other exasperated looks, as if they had heard this speech many times before.

Ron smiled at me, "Don't worry, by the end of the week, you'll be ready to hit her over the head."

"You've had seven years to do it didn't you?" I asked Ron.

"Ah, well if I hit Hermione over the head, my grade point average would sharply fall. If that happens, well my mum would kill me. So hitting Hermione over the head would be suicide."

"That's fascinating logic." I said laughing, however Hermione was not so amused.

"You've wanted to hit me over the head, did you Ron?"

"No, of course not!" Ron said, "It's just a figure of speech!"

Harry jumped in saving the day yet again, "So you three are coming to the Quidditch match next week, against Ravenclaw, right?"

Hermione and Ron nodded, and suddenly it hit me, he said three. I looked up to see him waiting expectantly. "Of course!" I said a little overenthusiastically. They stared at me oddly. That seemed to be happening often today.

I smiled sheepishly and tried to return to my reading, however a huge yawn overcame me.

"Well, I think I should go sleep, but thanks for letting me sit with you." I said. We said our good-byes and I walked back to the Ravenclaw dormitory grinning. For what was perhaps one of the first times in my life, someone decided to befriend me. Not many people ever wanted to talk to me, let alone be friends. This was a wonderful end to a horrible day.

* * *

I'm incredibly sorry that I haven't updated in months. For the summer, I was stuck in a remote region of India with absolutely no internet access. When I came back home I was just too busy to update. Today, I suddenly remembered my story and felt bad, so I decided to update. Once again, I'm terribly sorry.

Also, considering HBP, I understand that Dumbledore died, however Dumbledor is clearly alive in my story, and I understand that Harry, Ron, and Hermione didn't plan to return to school for a seventh year. Let's just consider my stroy AU, unless I can think up a clever plot twist, however that is beyond my thinking capacities, so I highly doubt it. So far now, AU I guess.


End file.
